Topic: Feminist Analysis of Sohni Mahiwal

Subject: Literary Theory And Practice

Group Members:

Zehra Qureshi Maham Arshad Naeema Sahar Amna Meraj Nighat Fakhra Wen Ping

Submitted to: Madam Sonia Irum

Class: BS English (6th Semester)

Section: A

FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF SOHNI MAHIWAL

Sohni Mahiwal is composed by a male writer so he is depicting the female characters from the male perspective. Sohni is shown ,young and beautiful. The Story emphasizes on physical beauty, even her name means beautiful. Izzat Baig (Mahiwal) the main protagonist is impressed only by her physical beauty not by her artistic skills, her physical charm is a delightful representation of feminine beauty. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially and psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which they are kept. In this story also Sohni weds off to her cousin against her will. The typical representation of forced marriage is portrayed. She is shown not having the right to choose her life partner and in the end she is considered to be shameful or nasty person for following her heart desires. Sohni's father doesnt allow her to marry Mahiwal because he didnt belong to the community and was an outsider. Many women in Pakistan undergo the same situation, the elders don't want the property to go outside the family. Men and women both have equal capabilities to lie and deceive if a man is the one deceiving hes forgiven by the society but if a woman deceives shes considered as a shame for the whole society. Writer has made the character of Sohni as a deceiving wife. She commits adultery by secretly meeting Mahiwal, the unfaithful image of hers is shown in this folktale. Other female characters (mother-in-law, sister-in-law) are shown indulging in intrigue against Sohni.The stereotypical characters of sister in law and mother in law are shown. They are shown protecting the "family values" but it sounds ironic that these family values have being constantly suppressing female's freewill. One woman is shown to be against the other by plotting against her, in the fire of jealousy and in the protection of family values . Thus all the negative and stereotypical imagery of female characters is represented throughout the text. And as biology determines our sex(male or female), culture determines our gender (masculine or feminine) so the male writer is overwhelmed by his culture and depicts the typical imagery of females character. If a woman accepts the traditional gender role and obeys the patriachal rules, she is a 'good girl'; if she doesnt, she is a 'bad girl. While the male character (Mahiwal) is shown to be following his free will. In no place hes shown as a negative character. No one stops him or blames him for his actions whereas the figure is only pointed on Sohni.

SOHNI MAHIWAL
Sometime during the late Mughal period, there lived in a town on the banks of the Chenab, or one of its branches, a potter (kumhar) named Tulla. (The town is identified either as present day Gujrat or one of the nearby towns.) Tulla was a master craftsman and his earthenware was bought and sold throughout Northern India and even exported to Central Asia. To the potter and his wife was born a daughter. She was such a beautiful child that they named her Sohni, meaning beautiful in Punjabi. Sohni spent her childhood playing and observing things in her fathers workshop. She watched clay kneaded and molded on the wheel into different shaped pots and pitchers, dried in the sun, and then fired and baked. Sohni grew up not only into a beautiful, young woman but also an accomplished artist who made floral designs on the pots and pitchers that came off her fathers wheel. Sohnis town was located on the trading route between Delhi and Central Asia, and trading caravans often made a stopover here. One such caravan that stopped here included a young, handsome trader from Bukhara, named Izzat Baig. While checking out the merchandise in town, Izzat Baig came upon Tullas workshop where he spotted Sohni sitting in a corner of the workshop painting floral designs on the pots. Izzat Baig was taken by Sohnis rustic beauty and charm and couldnt take his eyes off her. In order to linger at the workshop, he started purchasing random pieces of pottery. He returned the next day and made some more purchases at Tullas shop. His purchases were a pretext to be around Sohni for as long as he could. This became Izzat Baigs routine until he had squandered most of his money. When the time came for his caravan to leave, Izzat Baig found it impossible to leave Sohnis town. He told his companions to leave, and that he would follow later. He took up permanent residence in the town and would visit Sohni at her fathers shop on one pretext or the other. Sohni also began to feel the heat of Izzat Baigs love and gradually began to melt. The two started meeting secretly. Izzat Baig soon ran out of money and started taking up odd jobs with different people, including Sohnis father. One such job was that of grazing peoples cattle mainly buffaloes. Because of his newfound occupation people started calling him Mahiwal, a short variation of Majhan-wala or the buffalo-man. That name stayed with him for the rest of his life and thereafter. Sohni and Mahiwals clandestine meetings soon became the talk of the town, there was a commotion within the Kumhar community, who consider themselves a high caste. It was not acceptable that a daughter from this community would marry an outsider, so her father immediately arranged her marriage with

one of her cousins, also a potter, and, ignoring Sohnis protests and entreaties, bundled her off to her new home in a village somewhere on the other side of the river. Mahiwal was devastated. He left town and became a wanderer, searching for Sohnis whereabouts. Eventually, he found her house and managed to meet her in the guise of a beggar and gave her his new address a hut across the river. Sohnis husband, meanwhile, discovering that he could not win Sohnis heart no matter what he did to please her, started spending more time away from home on business trips. Taking advantage of her husbands absence, Sohni started meeting Mahiwal regularly. She would swim across the river at night with the help of a large water pitcher (gharra), a common swimming aid in the villages even today. They would spend most of the night together in Mahiwals hut and Sohni would swim back home before the crack of dawn. On reaching her side of the river, she would hide the pitcher in a bush to be used for her next trip the following night. One day, Sohnis sister-in-law (her husbands sister) came visiting. Suspecting something unusual about Sohnis nocturnal movements, she started spying on her. She followed Sohn,i one night, and saw her take out the pitcher from the bush, wade into the river and swim across. She reported the matter to her mother (Sohnis mother-in-law). Both of them, rather than informing Sohnis husband, decided to get rid of Sohni. This, they believed, was the only way to save their familys honor. The sister-in-law quietly took out Sohnis pitcher from the bush and replaced it with sun-dried, unbaked pitcher. As usual, Sohni set out at night for her meeting with Mahiwal, picked the pitcher from the bush, as she always did, and entered the river. It was a stormy night. The river was in high flood. Sohni was soon engulfed in water. She discovered, to her horror, that the pitcher had begun to dissolve and disintegrate. What shall she do now? Different thoughts rushed through Sohnis mind. Abandon the trip? Or continue trying to swim without the help of a pitcher and drown? Her inner struggle at this point is best expressed in a saraiki song made memorable by Pathanay Khan in his inimitable voice: Sohni gharray nu aakhdi aj mainu yaar mila gharrya Roughly translated and paraphrased the song runs as follows: Sohni (addressing the pitcher): Its dark and the river is in flood There is water all around me How am I going to meet Mahiwal?

If I keep going, I will surely drown And if I turn back I would be going back on my promise And letting Mahiwal down I beg you (O pitcher!), with folded hands, Help me meet my Mahiwal You always did it, please do it tonight, too (The pitcher replies): I wish I, too, were baked in the fire of love, like you are But I am not. I apologize; I cannot help Hearing Sohnis cries, Mahiwal, from the other side, jumped into the river to save her. He barely managed to reach her. As the story goes, their bodies were washed ashore, and were found the next day, lying next to each other. With their death, Sohni and Mahiwal entered into the world of legends and lore. And, in their death the sinners became saints.